Date of Award

1977

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

School of Education

Program

Higher Education Administration PhD

First Advisor

Bernard M. Lall

Second Advisor

George A. Akers

Third Advisor

Lyndon G. Furst

Abstract

Problem. The purpose of this study was to collect, organize, and analyze data from Seventh-day Adventist hospitals, nurses, SDA church leadership, and general statistics to provide nursing-personnel resource information for Adventist hospital and nursing education planning.

Some of the objectives of this study were to obtain a descriptive profile of nurses working in Adventist hospitals, to discover personnel selection patterns, turnover rates by position, annual job openings, numbers and percentages of Adventist-educated nurses, and the supply and demand for nurses in different nursing and administrative positions.

Method. Population of this descriptive study included all nurses working in forty-seven hospitals in the continental United States.

To obtain information desired, two survey instruments were prepared and distributed, one to Adventist hospital administrators and the other to nurses working in Adventist hospitals. Relevant information was also gathered from the church leadership and from published nursing and hospital statistics on nursing and hospitals in the United States. The information obtained form the survey instruments was organized into frequency and percentage tables. Some of the information was converted into unit indices and position transitional probability tables.

Returns from the survey instruments represented 67% to 80% of the nursing population working in SDA hospitals in the continental United States.

Results. The results were related to each of the specific objectives of the study. Some of the information revealed that over 70% of the nurses are RNs, more than two-thirds are married, more than two-thirds are employed full-time, 37.5% are Seventh-day Adventist, and around 25% of the nurses educated in Adventist nursing programs go to work in SDA hospitals when they complete their nursing education. Gradates from SDA nursing schools work an average of five years in SDA hospitals and hospital replacements needed each year because of attrition are from 1,231 to 1,470. All things considered, SDA nursing schools are unable to supply the yearly demand for nursing personnel in SDA hospitals.

Conclusions. Among the conclusions reached was that it is not reasonable to expect that current Adventist nursing education programs will educate sufficient nurses in the future to satisfy the needs of Adventist hospitals as they currently exist in size and location. The rapid growth in Adventist hospitals has contributed to the problem of nurse staffing. It is questionable that an expansion of Adventist nursing0eduction programs would solve the problem. Other alternative will need to be explored.

Subject Area

Seventh-day Adventist hospitals--United States, Hospitals--Employees, Nurses--Supply and demand

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